


Copaanir

by Clio_Codex



Series: Wandering Stars [4]
Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Mandalorian, Mandalorian romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26414584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clio_Codex/pseuds/Clio_Codex
Summary: Just a little snippet of something I wrote because Canderous deserves a proper romance.  And who doesn't love a good Mandalorian story?
Relationships: Canderous Ordo/Original Character
Series: Wandering Stars [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952851
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I've written fanfic since I was a kid....always in my head. Something about the pandemic gave me the itch to put things on paper. So here's a first effort to send into the world. Be gentle!
> 
> Thanks to all the lovely creators of stories here who inspired me to be brave enough to share my own work. And thanks to KotOR for the sandbox to play in.
> 
> The female character here is an OC member of the Hawk crew. Just feels like Canderous needed a different reason to stick around in the beginning. If you really want it to be, it could be femRevan. It's fiction :)
> 
> This takes place on Dantooine a few weeks in to their stay there. Imagine they are thinking and speaking Mando'a. Copaanir means want - hope I'm using it correctly!

He was easy to watch. Moving with a grace that belied his size,he swung his blades with practiced efficiency and deadly force.They’d spent a week clearing out the Kath hounds plaguing the local farmers, making quick work of the task.It was nice to feel the sun and wind, to walk for hours through the openness of the tall grass, especially after months in the close shadows of Taris.It was the kind of nice that could almost make her forget about the damn questions and nagging doubts that whispered in her mind. 

It was rare she slept deeply and rarer still to sleep without nightmares, but here she fell into a mercifully dreamless rest.She wasn’t sure if the catalyst was the long days of physical labor, the stillness of the night, the warmth of the fire, or his steady and ever more familiar presence. 

They hunted well together, working with an synergy that suggested years of partnership instead of only months.Those months had been enough, too, for them to find a ready rapport.Talk came easily (he had a way with war stories), and she found herself increasingly seeking to tease out his roguish grin and sarcastic quips.Of course, she could give as good as she got.

It was nice. _You could want this_.Her thoughts whispered. _Should I?_

****

They were back on the Hawk, cleaned up and fed, gear sorted and stowed.Most of the crew spent their nights at the enclave, tempted by real beds and water showers. But they felt little welcome there.Besides, the ship was theirs as they’d gone to the trouble to steal it.Best keep a claim. 

Despite the option of rooms, she found herself drifting back to his side.Maybe, she imagined, he was drifting to her. This was nice, too; time for slow conversation that could easily slip to content silence.

They landed in the garage, space he’d staked as his own from the start.He had what she suspected was a nervous habit of tinkering with weapons that didn’t need tinkering with, so it was natural that he’d pick a space near the workbench.He slept on a cot tucked in one of the oddly angled corners.He was a practical man with simple needs, still, she knew better than to underestimate the complexities of his thinking.

She sat perched on the edge of the workbench, one leg tucked up, the other dangling over, her bare foot swinging lightly. It crossed her mind that no one had seen her with bare feet in a long time; it felt oddly intimate. _But nice._

The garage was dim.She sat just outside the brighter light of the work lamp making it easy for her eyes to wander to his face and hands, framed by the brighter light.He’d been cleaning blasters for the better part of an hour, asking her opinion on various components.She was pretty sure the blasters were fine, but she liked that asked.It gave them an an excuse to talk, to sit, to just be. _And watch._ Large hands, rough with use, but capable of delicate work. _Of touch?_ _Oh. Don’t think that._

It would be so easy to reach over a hand and run a finger around the edges of the clan mark near his shoulder, to slowly trace up to his jaw, to invite the touch of those hands.She didn’t think he would mind.Warmth swirled up from her core in a way it hadn’t in so long - or maybe ever. So easy just to touch, to linger, to want, to invite.Her thoughts blazed.

His breath caught and hands stopped moving.

She realized in a panic what she had done.Her thoughts. _Shit._ Maybe he would mind. _Witch_ whispered that inner voice.She held her breath and froze.

 _“Didn’t expect that,”_ his voice was low, his eyes still on the blaster now idle in his hand.And then more carefully, _“Didn’t mind though_.”His hands moved again, slowly pieced the blaster back together. She let out her breath, not daring to otherwise move, afraid to break a thing not yet made.

She wasn’t sure if she heard in his tone what was there or what she wanted to be there.What did she want to be there?She didn’t want to lose again.

His hands paused a second time as he looked up slightly to half face her.The warmth that had ebbed when she’d been caught, flooded back as their eyes met.She felt a slow smile, the wanting kind, ghost across her lips.One brow raised, he made a noise that something between a hum and a laugh.Clever man. He must know what she wanted.He would make her say it.

 _“Oh,”_ she managed. _Oh._ Their eyes stayed locked as her mind traced up his arm again, lingering around his clan mark, slipping across his shoulder and up his jaw. _Oh._ This time she meant it.As her thoughts drifted across his cheek and lips she sensed his breath deepen and pulse quicken, matching her own.It would be so easy to reach out;he wouldn’t mind. 

He was still holding the blaster.Well, that would be a place to start.

Bolder now, she unfurled her legs and slid down from the workbench, taking the blaster from his hands to set aside.She let her fingers brush against his, a first physical touch, and then slowly trailed up his wrist and his arm. _“Don’t mind that either,”_ he whispered near her ear, his breath another sort of touch. 

For a split second she thought of another arm, another body that was once wanted and pressed to her own.But the wanting of this body and this moment consumed her, pushed the ghost aside. _Ordo_ her fingers traced around the symbol on his flesh.His hand brushed her cheek.She wondered how those hands might feel when…. _want_. Her hands and mind shivered across his skin.

They were out of the beam of the work lamp now; there was just enough light to make out the something more than desire in his eyes that hers surely echoed. _“What do you want?”_ He framed the question, but he must know the answer.Clever man; he would make her say it. 

_“You.”_

_Oh._ So she did. _Want you._ The line between her mind and her body blurred.Both hands touched, drifted, wanted, up to cup his face. _Want._ She registered his hands - one teased the curve of her waist; the other wound through her braid.So close. _Touch._ The warmth in her core turned to fire, burned through to fingers, melted into his own. _“I want you,”_ she murmured into the corner of his mouth.So close. And then there was no gap to close, his lips on her own, gentle, then insistent. 

***

She wanted to stay.He’d fallen asleep while their limbs were still tangled, drifted off tracing swirls across the small of her back.His steady heartbeat in her ear and warm breath in her hair beckoned her to sleep. _Why are you afraid?_

She let herself stay until her eyes began to flutter, then slowly slipped out of his embrace, stopping to brush a faint kiss on his forehead.Maybe he would dream of her; she hoped.She’d been right about his hands, about wanting this. The afterglow of his touches feathered across her skin.

She walked away softly. She wouldn’t sleep.It hurt to know she could have just let herself stay.But the questions and nagging doubts drummed in her head.She’d have to explain, to tell him the few secrets she’d kept close.

Then maybe it would be safe to want, to stay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning....Canderous's POV.

She was gone.For a moment he wondered if the whole thing had just been some glorious dream. The strands of her hair on his pillow promised it had been real.

****

He found her sitting on the ramp of the Hawk, knees drawn up, the early morning light playing off of her still-mussed braid. Funny how she so often sat like that, as though she was small and vulnerable, despite her strength. He resisted an urge to slip behind her and nuzzle the back of her neck, tangle his fingers in her hair, to soothe away that little wisp of sadness that he sometimes noticed clinging to her.But he wasn’t sure she’d welcome it.What had it meant that she hadn’t stayed?Regret?

He settled for sitting beside her,leaving a careful gap, just in case. _“You’re up early.”_ His gaze was cautious.

Her eyes stayed on the horizon, _“Wasn’t sleeping.Didn’t want to wake you,”_ she shrugged and offered nothing more.

Normally, he liked their silences.They felt familiar, comfortable.This felt like regret.He cursed himself for putting on nothing more than his trousers. Felt wrong now, too forward. Yet she’d seemed more than sure last night, and his own desire, well, that had been building for weeks. 

He’d never been one for mincing words; no sense in starting now. He forced his voice to stay light, _“It was fun.Doesn’t have to….”_

_“It was.Very,”_ she whispered, a grin blooming at the corner of her mouth.Damn.He wanted to kiss her.More than kiss her.She continued, less softly, _“Really, I just don’t sleep much.You looked so content that I didn’t want disturb you.”_

He huffed a laugh, _“You could say I was pretty content,”_ he grinned back, hoping to disguise his doubt. _“Wouldn’t have minded if…”_ His words caught; she was doing it again, touching without moving, that wicked little grin larger now. He suspected that the first time she’d done whatever she was doing had been unintentional, but the second time, and this…oh, she meant it. Sensations tickled up his bare back, across the nape of his neck, danced in his hair. If he’d not seen her hands still clasped around her knees, he’d have sworn her fingers were doing the dancing.Must have been wrong about regret. Good.He held her eyes, not moving. _“Want to spar then?”_ Meaning lay thick in his voice.

She bit her lip suggestively, _“mmm…something like that….could be more fun than sleeping.”_

Ghostly tracers ran down his cheeks and jaw line, through the sparse hairs on his chest, echoing the paths her fingers had taken only hours before.He prided himself on his self-control, but the urge to slip his own hands to the soft skin exposed between her tank and leggings was almost too great.They may be well-matched sparring with blades, but in this game he felt distinctly disadvantaged.

When those ghost fingers slipped under the edge of his waistband to tease the top of his hips, he jumped to his feet and half-stumbled back up the ramp, breaking their contact.Damn, he did want to kiss her.

She leaned back on her hands to look up at him,wide-eyed, _“Round one to me then?”_ If she was trying to play innocent, she wasn’t being very convincing.

_“I don’t recall yielding,”_ he managed to get out as he circled round to face her, trying to slow his pulse.Tactical error.He was now beneath her on the ramp.She jumped to her feet, the incline putting them at eye level despite the inches he had on her.He jammed his hands in his back pockets.Reinforcements.

They were nearly touching now, close enough to feel her breath, _“What do you want, Ordo?”_ Her voice was steady and direct.

That was fair; he had asked her first.They were both teasing, he sensed, playing off of a mutual physical attraction.But there was a twinge in his gut that wondered if they weren’t also dancing around something deeper.Last night, she’d been unashamed to name her desire for him;he’d been quick to act on it.Why not? She was a beautiful woman, strong in battle, and quick of wit.They enjoyed each other’s company.Why not each other’s beds? _“I’m happy to show you, of course.”_

_“Show me what?”_ Slender arms wrapped around his neck.Her eyes were endless pools that begged him to sink in their depths. That smile.Those lips.He could kiss her.

In battle there are moments where everything stops, where you can see with sudden clarity how all the pieces will move, a moment that makes the way forward unmistakable.In this moment he knew that the twinge he felt was a hope for more.This woman felt like home and future and all that was good that thought he’d lost.He wanted her badly, and not just to bed.Could she want like that?

Well, they’d enjoy this part and sort out the rest later.Her question wanted an answer.He gave in to bring his hands to the bare skin at her waist, feeling the hitch of her breath as he did.Hands slid up the back of her shirt, drawing their bodies to press. _“This.”_ He mouthed the edge of her jaw. _“This.”_ He nipped at the curve of her neck. _“How I want you.”_ He whispered in her ear.He hoped she felt the tenderness and want of more under his desire.He waited for her move.

She pressed her forehead to his, one hand caressed the back of his neck, the other moved to lay above his heart.It was an intimate gesture among their people, something different than a kiss.She would know what it meant. _Oh._ She pulled away, but took his hand as she moved up the ramp.This time her smile was softer.But he knew he did not mistake the eddies of hot hunger in her eyes.

He followed.

**Author's Note:**

> I've since reworked this as part of my write through of KotOR - if you want to read the updated (with spicier content) version, it's chapter 2 of Dantooine - Ruyot. Enjoy!


End file.
